All-trans retinoic acid potentiates the antibody response in mice to a lipopeptide antigen adjuvanted with liposomal lipid A

作者：Watson Douglas S; Huang Zhaohua; Szoka Francis C Jr^*

来源：Immunology and Cell Biology, 2009, 87(8): 630-633.

DOI：10.1038/icb.2009.48

• retinoic acid
• lipid A
• liposomes
• gp41
• membrane proximal region

Retinoic acid (RA), the bioactive metabolite of retinol, is essential for robust humoral immunity in animals and humans. Recent interest in RA as a vaccine adjuvant has been encouraged by reports showing cooperative enhancement of antibody responses to tetanus toxin in rodents by all-trans RA (ATRA) and a Toll-like receptor-3 agonist. We hypothesized that RA would augment the antibody response to a co-delivered lipopeptide immunogen derived from the membrane proximal region (MPR) of HIV-1 gp41. The MPR is weakly immunogenic and could benefit from potent new humoral adjuvants. When co-formulated in liposomes and administered to BALB/C mice, ATRA alone did not elicit serum anti-peptide antibodies to an MPR-derived lipopeptide. However, addition of ATRA, but not 13-cis RA, to a liposomal formulation containing the Toll-like receptor-4 agonist monophosphoryl lipid A resulted in a fourfold enhancement of serum anti-peptide IgG titers as compared with a formulation containing lipid A alone (P=0.00039). The difference did not arise from biophysical changes in the liposome formulation, including vesicle size, vesicle charge and liposome association of antigen. Thus, ATRA warrants further study as a vaccine adjuvant. Immunology and Cell Biology (2009) 87, 630-633; doi: 10.1038/icb.2009.48; published online 14 July 2009

• 出版日期2009-12